Professional Documents
Culture Documents
6:45 p.m. in Cafeteria
Welcome: PTA President Felicia Eve welcomed all of us, and then got right to
business.
Scholastic Book Fair:
The books arrived today, and on Monday, March 16th will be the fair. The book
fair will be all week, especially during Parent / Teacher Conference. There will be some
childcare during that time( i.e.: arts, crafts, reading, etc.), so parents can have their
meetings with the teachers alone. An email blast will be going out this week with more
details.
There was a discussion and vote tonight on whether or not to continue using
Scholastic as our book fair supplier. Aviva Shapiro presented "Book Smart" as our
alternative source. Here is a brief list of the pros and cons as discussed during the
meeting.
Pros: Huge selection of excellent, high quality children's literature
20 years of experience in the private school sector
Will custom design fair to suit our schools needs and desires
There are no toys nor computer games, just books
Will complete teachers book list of whatever they are teaching in class
Warehouse in Chelsea, NYC. Easy access and accommodating
Flexible with delivery options, can do it ourselves
Closeout process based on honorsystem, not like Scholastics
Author visits and signings at fair
Huge selection of diverse cultural & language books
Old time booksellers, based on quality not marketing
Cons: Prices may not be as cheap as Scholastics
There are no toys nor computer games, children need to be informed
25% of sales to school, where as Scholastics is 30%
There will be a "Book Smart" fair on April 28th at the Nightingale School and one
on May 4th at the Packard School. If anyone is interested in checking it out let Aviva or
Felicia know.
Vote was taken and the result was a unanimous yea. We will be sending in a
check for $250 to reserve our dates.
Arts Day:
Felicia introduced the organizer for the event, Ms. Linda Schmidt. It will be held
on Saturday, March 28th from 12 4 p.m.. There will be weaving, arts & crafts, music,
dance, cookies, costume building, and Trash to Treasure to name a few. The art auction
will include the silent auction this year, and "Day of a 1000 Drawings" is still happening.
Please send in something that can fit in an 8" x 11" sleeve,it can be jewelry, a chachkee,
a drawing, a pot holder, anything arts & crafts like for "1000 Drawings". All items will be
sold for $10, (you can buy your child's item before its posted) so come and show off your
child's design. A flyer will be distributed soon with more details.
We still need volunteers, shifts are from 12 2 & 2 4, but fillins are very much
welcomed.
Field Day:
Will be May 14 & 15 at The Parade Grounds at Prospect Park. K 2nd will be on
the 14th. 3rd5th will be on the 15th. All parents are encouraged to come.
REPORTS
∙ The PreK8 Expansion Committee, chaired by Mary Beth Carroll and Carey
Johnson, which held an hourlong meeting just prior to the PTA meeting to update
parents on our efforts.
∙ The Liaison Committee, chaired by James Lola and Joe Sultana, which is working
on how to improve the experience of everyone in the cafeteria.
∙ The Diversity Committee, chaired by Steve Quester and Ira Yankwitt, which has
been working through our twozone lottery system to increase the racial, ethnic and
economic diversity of children in our school.
Roxanna has been invaluable in our efforts to increase the diversity of our
applicant pool and increase the number of applicants from the Southwest lottery zone
(Red Hook and Sunset Park). She has led our outreach initiatives, visiting schools,
head start programs, and community centers. Staff member Douglas Dugan has also
provided invaluable assistance. Because of these and other peoples’ commitment, our
kindergarten classes this year are more diverse than in the past, with no majority racial
or ethnic group. In addition, it appears that we have more applicants from the southwest
zone this year than in the past two years
The math tests are now over, only a few makeups left. The Gifted & Talented
testing will be done tomorrow. ELA and Math results should come sometime in June.
He honored the Basketball raffle ten days ago, and got whooped 37 to 12.
He will be honoring the 1/2 day principle raffle in June on a instructional ½ day.
He may have the students wear hats or ties, but will definitely be dressed for the
occasion.
Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held next week, March 19th. 12:10 p.m. will
be early dismissal and conferences will be from 1:10 3:10 then 5:30 8 p.m. If you
want more time with the teachers, please email them for a later date and time after the
conference. Report cards are handed out on the day of the conference to prevent the
report cards from being the focus of the meeting.
5th Grade Science Fair will be next week in the Science room. Budget cuts Last
year we lost $50,000, next year we may lose twice that. Mr. Artie is not sure how
accurate that is and is confident the school can absorb the cuts without losing any
positions. The DoE provides schools with a funding rollover provision which allows them
to carry finding over into the following school year. Due to this option, the program will
hopefully remain unchanged.
The Quality Review will soon be taking place. Selfevaluation forms have been
given to staff, teachers, and the SLT. Since District 75 schools didn't receive a report
card they must be part of this process again. He is very confident we will do great.
Doug Dugan, technology teacher, has reformatted our web site and it looks
fantastic! Please check out the newsletters every month. They will be posted monthly for
all grade levels and specialists. The school is also looking to develop writing rubrics to
be sent home after each unit of study. This will give you an idea of how your child is
progressing and we welcome all feedback. This is a very time consuming process for
the teachers and staff developers. This will generate a better communication between
parents and teachers and the school at large.
The teachers have been working after school on many different reports. This has
been very time consuming for the staff, so please take this into consideration when and
if you book extra time with them.
Cafeteria staff and aides have been doing a very difficult and hard job patiently
and tirelessly. He recognizes their work and appreciates them greatly. James Lola and
Joe Sultana of the SLT liaison committee are working with staff and parents on some
immediate suggestions to be implemented for the rest of the year in an effort to develop
a cafeteria behavior that is honored by all children and adults. A long term plan will be
developed with the intention of implementing it when school begins for the 200910
school year.
James Lola is hosting a Positive Behavior seminar Tuesday, March 24th at 10
a.m. at Grand Army Plaza Library in the Trustee Room. Please attend, you will walk
away with some valuable tips and too; to help deal positively with your child's behavior.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.